Issue #16 Released!

Best Smog issue in a looooong time imo. Top tier articles like the "Dragon-type" analysis, the featured Pokemon session and the Metagame section as a whole kept me interested for quite some time. The art was fantastic too.

This was a great issue of the smog. The suspect testing served as a great way to explain why certain pokemon and move combos were banned in both OU and UU. Can't wait to splash into RU, it's going to be so much fun.

That being said, I am disappointed that Stealth Rock and Hurricane didn't make it onto Deck's article. Hurricane could put Kingdra back in the business (and also give Politoed something to live in the face of ThunderPunch,) and if it made its way to Salamence, I could see him getting a nice second wind on Rain teams. Stealth Rock was nigh universal in Gen IV, giving it to Gen V Pokemon seems only natural. It also gives Ferrothorn the ability to run Stealth Rock+Spikes+Leech Seed, which is neat, and hey-if Mienshao gets it (and Ice Punch) it might actually be a good lead!

That being said, I am disappointed that Stealth Rock and Hurricane didn't make it onto Deck's article. Hurricane could put Kingdra back in the business (and also give Politoed something to live in the face of ThunderPunch,) and if it made its way to Salamence, I could see him getting a nice second wind on Rain teams. Stealth Rock was nigh universal in Gen IV, giving it to Gen V Pokemon seems only natural. It also gives Ferrothorn the ability to run Stealth Rock+Spikes+Leech Seed, which is neat, and hey-if Mienshao gets it (and Ice Punch) it might actually be a good lead!

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As far as Spikes vs. Stealth Rock, Spikes has become more dominant this Gen and Stealth Rock got a fair push around Egg Movepools, so really only new acquisitions that didn't get it as a TM last Gen would work well (Quags, Gastrodon), and almost none of them would be 5th Gen, since the bulkiest mons in 5th Gen already got it. Spikes simply had more material to work with as far as new mons because Spikes has always had poor distribution, and was never given to any ground type.

Hurricane's problem is any section on it would just be an army of existing (or now mintable) rain sweepers, and we already had an article on that: the BW OU Metagame Analysis. What few interesting oddball Pokemon could get it (Yanmega, Drifblim, Togekiss) would be offset by the fact the best users hands down are Thundurus and Zapdos. Anything else that gets it would be a contrivance, since we already have Dragonite, and chucking it on random water mons is just sloppy.

Hurricane is simply a move you could stuff on virtually anything and it would be better simply for smashing through all the new Fighting types and having 100% Accuracy in the now-ubiquitous rain. It's also rare to have a tutor that powerful without a significant drawback. Gunk Shot is the closest, but the thing is: Gunk Shot's coverage sucks. Hurricane hits at least two relevant types (Fighting, Grass) for SE damage and has excellent offensive synergy with several common types, not least of which being Water and Electric. Seriously. Name me a single Water or Electric type with at least 75 SpA that wouldn't toss Hurricane on its movepool in an instant.